1788 or 1789. Wallace Collection, London
But supposing Mrs. Siddons out of the question, my words (on which you ground your demand of doing the print as a right, not as a favour) I do not see can be interpreted as such an absolute promise; they mean only, in the common acceptation, that you, being the person who first applied, that circumstance should not be forgot—that it should turn the scale in your favour, supposing an equality in other respects.
You say you wait the result of my determination. What sort of determination can you expect after such a letter? You have been so good as to give me a piece of advice—for the future to give unequivocal answers; I shall immediately follow it, and do now, in the most unequivocal manner, inform you that you shall not do the print.
With purely historical and subject pictures Sir Joshua may be said to have increased his popularity more than his reputation. Of this class there are comparatively few, for while Malone enumerates one hundred and ten in “a general list of the most considerable,” no less than thirty-five of these are primarily portraits, such as The Graces adorning a Term of Hymen, The Marlborough Family, &c. &c. And while we acknowledge some of his very finest achievements to be portraits and portrait groups treated in this allegorical manner, when we turn to the “fancy subjects” we find little of which the importance is equal to its sentimental charm.
Nor are the most notable exceptions, as might be expected, those for which he received the largest commissions, namely: The Infant Hercules, £1500; The Nativity, £1200; Macbeth, £1000; Cardinal Beaufort, £500; The Continence of Scipio, £500; A Holy Family, £500; Count Hugolino, £400; A Gipsy Telling Fortunes, £350; Tuccia, the Vestal Virgin, £300.
The Infant Hercules was commenced in January 1786, at a time, that is to say, when he was at the very height of his power. His niece, Miss Palmer, writing to a cousin abroad during this month, says: “My uncle seems more bewitched than ever with his pallet and pencils. He is painting from morning till night, and the truth is that every picture that he does seems better than the former. He is just going to begin a picture for the Empress of Russia, who has sent to desire he will paint her an historical one. The subject is left to his own choice, and at present he is undetermined what to choose.”
The picture is now in St. Petersburg, and we
MRS. SIDDONS AS THE TRAGIC MUSE